[LLCIHONICA
THE CHEMICIAL BROTHERS We Are the Night
iVirgin Freestyle Dust) 0000
There’s a feeling of things coming full circle when Klaxons are guesting on Chemical Brothers records; it’s the equivalent of Nick Cave guesting on Johnny Cash songs. The track, ‘All Rights Reversed’ is an exquisite, piano-driven juggernaught laced with perfectly underplayed, tired, weedy boy vocals. It highlights two things perfectly: firstly that The Chemical Brothers never sound better when they have a vocal foil, and that after a decade of being ‘the dance band indie kids like’ they are in fact now the godfathers of an entire generation of artists who want to make hedonistic, geeky electropopmusic for its own sake.
After a couple of well-received but ultimately lukewarm albums this is the duo’s first album in some years that sounds like they have purpose
from Hollyx-vood's musical heyday through the- very height of romance from Spain. Japan and Egypt. to name but a few 'lhe breadth of styles. effortlessly recreated. build a varied. engaging and utterly glamorous cabaret for any light-- hearted occasion. lMarkf1dmundsonl
retuning wrth largely l)()Slll'/(} results. Men's Needs. Women 's Needs. Whatever sees the Jarntan brothers enlist Alex Kapranos for production duties. and while those who loathe them Will remain unconvinced. the added spring in their step. as seen on title track ‘Men's Needs'. might finally
INDIE.
THE CRIBS
Men‘s Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever ’V‘Jlflltlia Recordings. 0...
Despite the friends The Cribs won With their last two albums. lingering beneath the racket it was impossible to ignore the heckles over their
siii:ilar:ty to a certain
vicious detractors. lMiles Johnsoni
i ()LK
NINA NASTASIA AND JIM WHITE You Follow Me 'F'atCati 0.0
fuss! 3d indie coi'ibo from Nesr York. It appears
the ;e crue: accusations of being 1ittle iitore thai‘ a .firit'sh Strokes impersonation outfit have at last had some effect. prompting a slight
'l'he teaming up of two such strong llitlSlell minds as this masterful Chicagoan singer“
silence some of the more
and focus. ‘Saturate’ is a thunderous, layered tribute to the genius of Leftfield and Cozy Powell while ‘Harpoons’ is My-Bloody-Tangerine- Dream-Valentine-tastic and closer ‘The Pills Won’t Help You Now’, starring Midlake, is the best Arab Strap tribute song ever written by Mercury Rev (kind of). Rather than the token indie contributions from big hitters, they’ve collaborated with operatives like Willy Mason and Fatlip who actually bring something more to the table than the high profile and the inevitable single they’ll never ever get to do justice to live. Instead of waddling into decrepitude and irrelevance The Chemical Brothers have come up with a musically able long player that is slow burning and multi-faceted. They’ve never been subtle, but that’s rarely been the point. Like Beck and the Beastie Boys they’ve been around long enough to start taking references from themselves, and while this might not seem cool it still sounds pretty damn fine. (Mark Robertson)
songwriter and the deft sticksman from A ssie rabble rousers The Dirty Three could only ()l‘(l in something at the very least fascziiatitig. Nastasia's songs have al-srays been atmospheric. close cut affairs that deal witl‘ intimacy intimately With the listener. What White bangs to the table is a scattergun dynamic. i.-.ihicti, to he fair. wasn't originally missing from Nasfasia's s )ngs. the overall effect. is mixed. ()n 'Lafe Night'. ‘I Come After You' and 'lhe Day I Would Bur", You' the two fuse perfectly. the drama of both performers combining to the right effect. ‘.'-.ih.|e in other
ME
places. White's percussive spikes interrupt rather than complement. When this works. the beauty of the original songs is even accentuated.
«Mark Robertsoni
ROCK
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Era Vulgaris
(Polydorl O...
Let's get one thing straight. Fla Vulgar/s is a pretty tremendous record. lheii fusion of drag race chic and inotoi‘ik beats injected with wry humour and subtle menace is as addictive as ever. Sure. it might lack some of the weight and blustei' of previous adventures.
but given the duality of their acconiplishments 2000's Rated Fl and 2002's Songs for the Deal are two of the greatest rock albums of the last 95) years — you wouldn't have been surprised if they just retired back onto their laurels and rehashed said albums ad infinitum. While Josh Homme's desire to make perfect 'robot rock' remains unswerving. Era Vulgaris is a more complex. textured record than anything else they've done and relies less on the riff and more on the song for effect. lhis puts paid to some of the palpable danger that made past glories so appealing. but what comes in return is a more varied record filled With a greater nielodic certainty Maybe Queens ‘the pop years' Will come next time. (Mark Hobei'tsoiii
POP YELLOW BENTINES Yellow Bentines (Unsignedi COO
Take one gentle Scottish indie band. Send away (some of") the guitars and draft in some brass. ivory and ebony. Sing about everything in a cheery manner so that elegies to lost relationships and the general injustices of life sound like good things. Corigiatulafions: you are now Yellow Bentines. You can range from ska pop to l)itters\.'reet balladry with occasional digi'essions into fruity ja/x. all with extreme articulacy. You can use piano. bass and drums to delimit the boundaries in which two exuberant trumpets and wavering vocals rollick about. You can charm with soulful. playful tunes. But can you prove that you are more than the sum of your parts? iSu/anne Blacki I This album can be downloaded for tree at WWW. V(?//()Wl)()l iti/ res. co rii/rriusicdoWri/oads.ht/n
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The Nextmen This Was Supposed to be the Future (Antidote) It COuld be the future. if the future is a lovely cake baked from sweet hip hop, filled with spirited soul and topped with a sprinkling of ragga beats and rhymes. Yum.
Bob Sinclair Seundz of Freedom (Defected) You might presume someone needs a slap for putting a ‘1' in ‘soundz' until you realise this is another album of inspired. disco straight from this fiery Frenchman‘s loins capitalising on the popularity of last Summer crossover hit ‘Love Generation'.
New Young Pony Club Fantastic
P/a yroor r i {Modi r/ar) A band With such promise redeem themselves deSpite the slightly peculiar album title (is it just me or does that sound a bit pervy?) What's inside is highly commendable: jllll‘lp-Llp~Etlld-d()Wll party indie. like (388 with less lycra and more denim. Marilyn Manson Eat Me. [)rink ll/le (Pelt/don He's now youngtish), free and single but still mad as a shithouse rat. big Brian comes back with an enjoyably overblown reminder why spooky electro~ glam» metal is SO much more fun when executed with a none more black sense of humour. The Many Love It When I Feel Like lhis (B-Unigue) Not that we're suspicious or anything but doesn‘t that album title inspire thoughts of a certain Sheffield quartets million selling debut. not that this mob are genna have the same impact though. this affable album is definitely more Northside than Stone Roses.
' L’l .Jun L’tit‘i' THE LIST 63